EMPOWER - Local Electricity Retail Markets for Prosumer Smart Grid Power Services

Radical changes in the way energy is produced and consumed are required, in order to meet the goals of the energy strategy 2050. The EMPOWER (local electricity retail markets for prosumer smart grid power services) research projects seeks to advance our understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with local electricity retail markets. Local electricity retail markets are based on the insight that a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and an increase of energy efficiency can be achieved through a more decentralized or local energy market, in which citizens not only actively participate in the consumption but also in the production of energy. That is, citizens become prosumers. EMPOWER is an EU-funded research project, in which actors (eg. software companies, technology providers, project developers, utilities and researchers from Norway to Malta) collaborate to investigate the underpinnings of local energy markets from different perspectives.
University of St Gallen's research team seeks to investigate the strategic transformation processes that underlie such a shift toward greater decentralization of energy production. It specifically 1. monitors and lays out the types of business models of decentralized energy production and their effectiveness (cf. interactions between utilities and prosumers), 2. provides theoretical and empirical insights on how to master the strategic transformation at the level of the firm and of the market place, 3. provides theoretical and empirical insights on the linkages between decentralized energy markets and energy policy. A specific emphasis will be laid on the cognitive underpinnings and dynamics of strategic transformation.